handwriting recognition in Plecodict 2.0

[daniu]

Hi!

The fact that I was not here for a long time does not say that I am not using Plecodict any more but that I am very satisfied and do not need any support
(Well - I accepted the fact that I usually cannot exit flashcards anymore without taskmanager. Had tried to test why this is but could not find out and as it is not reproduceable ...)

Now for Plecodict 2.0 I heard that the handwriting recognition is also changed (along with a bunch of really cool features!) Before I bought a PDA and Plecodict I tried some of my friends electronic dictionaries and most of the time I did not succeed in writing the characters the way the thing wanted to understand (it was harder to get it to understand me than chinese people when talking). I am not a native chinese and these tools (I think it was BESTA) seem to be made exclusively for natives. I think you had to keep the stroke order (?)
I never had this problems with Plecodict! Now I am a bit afraid that the new engine is much more picky. Can you take away my fear?

Actually I think it would be best if it was possible to set a "picky mode" to get used to write proper and a "less picky mode" to find characters easier.

regards
Daniel

 

[mikelove]

The handwriting recognition engine in 2.0 will be the same as in 1.0; we haven't changed the algorithm at all.

We are, however, thinking about adding an additional handwriting-based test to the flashcard system, which will allow you to write in a character and will then critique you on your stroke order; we're not quite sure if we'll be able to get that working reliably enough to be useful, which is why all we're officially saying for now is that there'll be some kind of a stroke order tester (tapping on outlines of strokes or somesuch), but we're optimistic that you'll also be able to write characters freeform. Still, this will not in any way replace or modify our current recognizer. So you have nothing to worry about